Both the world’s largest offshore wind farm and the world’s largest complex of wind farms will soon appear off the British coasts, showing an unprecedented value of renewable energies. Hornsea One by the Danish energy company Ørsted (formerly DONG Energy) and Dogger Bank’s three projects developed by the Scottish SSE will make Britain the biggest offshore wind market in the world.
The largest single offshore wind farm under construction is Hornsea One (1,218MW), while Dogger Bank is made of three projects (Dogger Bank Creyke Beck A, Dogger Bank Creyke Beck B and Teesside A—each with a capacity of 1,200MW). Dogger Bank has planning consent to go ahead and onshore construction work has just begun for the Creyke Beck A and B projects, but offshore work has yet to
Hornsea Two (1,386MW) already has planning consent and Hornsea Three (2,400MW) has been submitted into the planning system but the Government’s decision has yet to be announced. Finally, Hornsea Four (1,200MW) is at an earlier stage of development and has not yet been submitted into the planning system.
At the moment, however, the largest operational offshore wind farm in the world is still Walney Extension off the coast of Cumbria (659MW).
Once opened later this year, Hornsea One will count 174 turbines and span an area of approximately 407 square kilometres, which is over five times the size of the city of Hull. It will be able to power 1 million homes.
Duncan Clark, head of region UK at Ørsted, said: “The reason projects like Hornsea are important is because it sets a new standard for offshore wind, demonstrating globally that clean energy projects of this scale are achievable, which in turn will help reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuel production. Not only is Hornsea One the biggest offshore wind farm in terms of scale, it’s also the furthest from shore a wind farm has ever been built, which of course presents many logistical challenges, not to mention the weather 120km out to sea!”